Former Air Force general loses bid to avoid trial by retiring
Maj. Gen. Phillip Stewart, former commander of the San Antonio-based 19th Air Force, the service’s pilot training arm, has lost his bid to retire rather than face a court-martial on charges of raping a female subordinate.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall III rejected Stewart’s request, two members of the general’s defense team said Thursday. The Air Force did not comment.
The decision means Stewart remains on track for a June 17 trial at Fort Sam Houston on charges that he sexually assaulted the female officer at or near Altus AFB in southwestern Oklahoma in April 2023.
Stewart was sacked as head of the 19th Air Force a month after the alleged assault. He has pleaded not guilty and maintains that he and the woman had a consensual affair. Military prosecutors say she had no choice but to submit to Stewart’s advances given his rank and power.
A member of Stewart’s defense team said Kendall’s decision was “a one- or two-sentence rejection” that offered “no broad explanation.”
Stewart is only the second general in Air Force history to face a court-martial.
A petition filed by his lawyers in mid-january asked Lt. Gen. Brian Robinson, head of the San
Antonio-based Air Education and Training Command, which includes the 19th Air Force, to allow Stewart to retire and go before a military board that would determine his final rank.
If the panel, called a grade determination board, had reduced his rank, Stewart could have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in retirement benefits compared with what he would have collected as a retired two-star general.
He would face an even worse fate if convicted at trial. Stewart faces a total of 63 years in prison if found guilty of four violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, including sexual assault, conduct unbecoming an officer, dereliction of duty and extramarital sexual conduct.
The evidence against Stewart was aired at an Article 32 hearing at Joint Base San Antonio-randolph in October. An Article 32 hearing is similar to a civilian grand jury proceeding, held to determine whether there is sufficient evidence of a crime to warrant a trial.
During the hearing, defense lawyers said the alleged victim joked with Stewart during their encounters and kissed and hugged him. Prosecutors, however, said the evidence showed that he forced his will on her and that comments she made before, during and after the encounters suggested she was uncomfortable.
Lt. Col. Pete Havern, special trial counsel for the Air Force, said Stewart “should not have put himself in the position” of having sex with a subordinate. Havern said it “speaks volumes” that when investigators interviewed the woman, she referred to Stewart over and over as “boss.”
After reviewing the evidence, the hearing examiner, Col. Brian Thompson, recommended against a court-martial on the sexual assault charges, saying the case was so weak that prosecutors would never obtain a conviction.
“At no point did (the alleged victim) express, through words or conduct, that she was not freely agreeing/consenting to engage in the sexual acts with accused,” Thompson wrote in his Oct. 29 report.
Robinson, however, overruled the hearing officer and ordered
Stewart to stand trial on all the charges.
In addition to charges related to the alleged sexual assault, Stewart is accused of flying an aircraft within 12 hours of consuming alcohol, a “throttle-tobottle” violation. It allegedly happened at Altus AFB on April 14, around the same time as the alleged assault.
San Antonio attorney Jeffrey Addicott, who is consulting with military lawyers on Stewart’s behalf, said he had been hopeful Kendall would allow Stewart to retire rather than stand trial.
“I was cautiously optimistic, given the fact that the Article 32 recommended dismissal of all charges for the sexual assault,” Addicott said. “We’re prepared to go to trial because that’s where we’re at.”
The jury at the court-martial will be made up of officers of Stewart’s rank or higher.
Stewart is a veteran command pilot with more than 2,600 hours in the air, including 600-plus in combat zones. He flew the F-15C and U-2 spy plane and held command positions in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Iraq, he was commander of the 362nd Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron at Balad Air Base. In Afghanistan, he led NATO’S Train Advise Assist Command-air in Kabul.
At the 19th Air Force, he oversaw 32,000 employees. The 19th is responsible for all flight training within the Air Education and Training Command. It leads cadet flight orientation at the U.S. Air Force Academy and trains entry-level and advanced fighter pilots, as well as drone pilots, combat systems officers, and air mobility and special operations combat crews. It also trains maintenance specialists and provides survival, evasion, resistance and escape instruction.
Stewart’s father, former Marine Cpl. Mason Stewart, 82, of Brunswick, Ga., told the San Antonio Express-news on Thursday that he believes “some very strong, undue command influence” is being brought to bear in his son’s case.
The elder Stewart, who served two tours in Vietnam, wrote that he believes Robinson, a threestar general, is “protecting the career” of the female officer, and that Robinson is concerned mainly with “protecting his chances for a fourth star.”
“There seems to be a lot of pressure to make it happen,” he said, referring to a trial. “This is so wrong.”
The only other general in Air Force history to face a court-martial is Maj. Gen. William T. Cooley, who commanded the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-patterson AFB in Ohio. He was convicted in April 2022 of abusive sexual conduct and reduced to the rank of colonel. He later retired.